AI provider Brighterion wins first Morgan Stanley fintech award

"AI as a service" provider Brighterion has been named the winner of the first Morgan Stanley Fintech Award. The award recognises the company that's provided the most innovative technology to the fintech markets, assisting Morgan Stanley's clients.

Brighterion's platform is centred around real-time machine learning services that continually monitor data. They can uncover new insights and automate "knowledge discovery." The concept's being applied to several facets of the fintech industry, including payments, security and IoT.

Detecting fraud

Morgan Stanley said Brighterion's technology is enabling rapid identification of suspect transactions. It can spot activity patterns that might indicate fraudulent transactions, even if the pattern hasn't previously been observed. Because it's structured around an open architecture, Morgan Stanley can use Brighterion with its clients to share data and rapidly react to emerging threats.

"Brighterion adds a new layer of protection to help keep our clients' assets safe," said Jason Dandridge, Managing Director and Global Head of Fraud at Morgan Stanley. "The open architecture of the platform offers a remarkable level of transparency, providing our teams with a faster and easier way to build, enhance and adapt models."

Morgan Stanley announced Brighterion as the receiver of the award during its annual Fintech Summit in New York. Morgan Stanley amassed over 60 fintech providers to discuss new opportunities in the market and analyse emerging technologies. The fintech space is growing rapidly as finance customers seek more efficient alternatives to traditional banking suppliers.

Virtual agents

Fintech's boomtime comes at a cost though. The proliferation of digital platforms in finance opens new risk avenues that could put transactions at risk. Brighterion helps to mitigate this by assigning each customer their own "smart agent." This digital representation of the individual is used to identify cardholders and determine whether an imposter is trying to break in.

The smart agent model allows Brighterion to break away from the pre-programmed rules of its competitors. By creating a flexible AI that's customised to each user, Brighterion's platform is more versatile and can react in real-time to emerging threats.

Brighterion can detect when one of its "virtual agents" is operating unusually, such as when it's activated from an irregular location or a different kind of device. It then responds with an early warning alert, letting the finance provider follow-up on the suspect cardholder's identity. The platform's capabilities led to the company receiving Morgan Stanley's award for "the most significant impact on Morgan Stanley's mission to continuously innovate for its clients and business."